The 80's & Omega 3's vs Omega 6's

Has anyone else discovered that 97.3 is now the ”Boom” 97.3...and it is geared towards the 70’s, 80’s and some 90’s music. These were my hay days...I love this music and have not been able to change the station since discovering it. I will be in my office trying to work and all of the sudden I have to crank up the Culture Club, Tears for Fears or KC and The Sunshine band and start singing my head off. It made me think of all the crazy clothes and hair that I had during those times. I thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse of what the “Food Fun Sucker” looked like before becoming the “Food Fun Sucker”. My daughter Jennifer and I had a good laugh today going through the old photo box looking for the biggest hair we could find.


I have to admit though that my day didn’t start this way with Jennifer...I came in the living room this morning to have my breakfast before my yoga class and as I sat down I noticed a half eaten Apple Crumble on the coffee table...Jennifer was now eating a scrambled egg sandwich. I asked her who had the Apple Crumble for breakfast..she confessed. Inside I was dying but today is her math examine so I had to breathe deeply and just dig into my Fibre One & Kashi Go Lean w/rice milk. (BTW, Francis F told me that Shoppers Drug Mart, at the Mall has the Kashi Go Lean on sale for $1.99!!!) Yoga was fantastic today...I really am noticing a difference in my flexibility. I’m amazed how your body responds so quickly. But trust me I have a looooonnnnnnnngggggg road ahead of me.

First, let's start with omega-3s, what I'll call the spring fats. These are likely the most abundant fats in the world, but they don't originate in fish, as many believe. Rather, they are found in the green leaves of plants. Fish are full of omega-3s because they eat phytoplankton (the microscopic green plants of the ocean) and seaweed. In plants, these special fatty acids help turn sunlight into sugars, the basis of life on Earth. The spring fats speed up metabolism. They are fats that animals (humans included) use to get ready for times of activity, like the mating season. They're found in the highest concentrations in all the most active tissues: brains, eyes, hearts, the tails of sperm, the flight muscles of hummingbirds. Because fish have so many of these fats in their diets, they can be active in cold, dark waters. These fats protect our brains from neurological disorders and enable our hearts to beat billions of times without incident. But they are vanishing from our diet, and you'll soon understand why.

... And our omega-6 surplus

Next up are the omega-6s, what I'll call the fall fats. They originate in plants as well, but in the seeds of plants rather than the leaves. The fall fats are simply storage fats for plants. Animals require both—omega-3s and omega-6s—in their diets and their tissues. But omega-6s are slower and stiffer than omega-3s. Plus, they promote blood clotting and inflammation, the underlying causes of many diseases, including heart disease and arthritis. Omega-3s, on the other hand, promote blood flow and very little inflammation, which may prevent things like heart disease. The proper mix of these two fats helps create tissue with the right amount of blood flow and inflammation. But because they're in constant competition to enter our cells, if your diet consists of too many omega-6s, your body will be deficient in omega-3s. And that is what's been happening to us as we've been eating more and more seed fats in the form of soybean, corn and other vegetable oils.

Omega-3s began disappearing from our food supply. Cows used to be raised on grass and other greens, producing meat, milk and cheese with much higher concentrations of omega-3s. These were the animal products that our grandparents and great-grandparents grew up on, before industrial feedlots replaced family farms. Now these livestock are fed corn and soy, and their tissues are swamped with omega-6s. Chickens, too, used to eat grass and grass-eating bugs. Those chickens produced eggs and meat that were high in omega-3s, but now they're full of omega-6-rich fall fats.

We are now eating a diet that is supposed to fatten us up for winter, when weather is harsh and calories are scarce. But today food is never scarce for the average Canadian. The base of our food supply has shifted from leaves to seeds, and this simple change means our bodies are storing more fat, leading to obesity and all its associated diseases.

At the same time, food chemists discovered that rancidity in packaged foods was caused by the oxidation of some minor but pesky fats: omega-3s. Scientists extended the shelf life of processed foods such as cookies, chips, cakes, breads and spreads by removing omega-3s—a nutrient that no one thought mattered. They replaced package food with Omega 6’s and now if you look at almost all package food will have some sort of “soy” in it.

Now you should understand why you must get more Omega 3’s in your body and less Omega 6. Eating Organic meat, yogurt, milk, butter or anything from the cow or chicken will cut down on your consumption of these fats. As well, limit your packaged food intake. Take a good Supplement (Nutra Sea) everyday. Remember these fats are called EFA’s – Essential Fatty Acids…they are ESSENTIAL for good health and your body can not produce them so you must get them from somewhere. Eating fish throughout the week will help you get more as well.